How to search for similar images in Google

Posted on June 14, 2009 at 5:57 am

Traditionally you will search for an image in Google using the Google Image search. The search results are based on tags or search strings associated with the images – it doesn’t really compare or process the image itself to determine if the image you want matches similarly to the one you want. Google is fixing that problem via a new development from Google Labs: the Similar Images service.

To start searching for similar images, open the site http://similar-images.googlelabs.com then start with a search query using traditional text search. In the example below I searched for images of Ringo Starr. Like the image search in Google, it returned all significant images matching the search term.

Pick an image that you want to use as a reference. Click the “similar images” link

All images determined by Google as similar are returned. Note that these images actually resemble each other by what’s physically in the picture.

For me this really is a cool improvement in image searching. Traditionally you will need to search using strings that don’t guarantee a similar results like above.

Here are more cool examples that showcases the improvement. This link will show you the similar images of a launching rocket.

Try it now: http://similar-images.googlelabs.com and see for yourself. This is a great tool to look for those hidden images that you don’t know existed. For example, you could look for images that were took from the same location. This way you can look for images that are visually similar.

Since it allows you to search for images using pictures rather than words, it changes the paradigm on how we will search for similar images and it is a big help for us end users.